Ship&#39;s caisson.



No. 65|,337. Patented :une l2, 1900.

F. c. nooKsBANK.

SHIPS CA|S SON (Application lerLNov. 12, 189B.) (No Modeh) n murmulme Nowms Firms ca. PnoTo-Ln'n'u.. ManmohanA D. c.

`UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK O. BROOKSBANK, OF RIVERTON, NEV JERSEY.

SHIPS CAISSON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 651,337, dated June 12, 1900.

Application lcd November l 2, 1898. Serial No.l696,2l4. (No model.)

To al?, whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK C. BROOKS- BANK, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in Riverton, in the county of Burlington, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Ships Caissons, of which the following is a true and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

My invention relates .to the construction of a ships caisson which can be readily applied to sections of a ships bottom and easily and conveniently carried on board ship, my object being to provide acaisson which can be used in case of emergency to give access to sections of the ships bottom for cleaning or repairiu y The nature of my improvements will be best understood as described in connection with the drawings, in which they are` illustrated, and in which v Figure 1 is a cross-section of a hull, showing my caisson applied toit. Fig. 2 is a View, on an enlarged scale, of a section of my caisson viewed from the inside. Fig. 3 is a crosssectionalview taken as on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4t is a view, on an enlarged scale, of a section of the edge of my caisson. Fig. 5 is a cross-section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4, and Fig. G is a perspective View of one of the outwardlyarched ribs employed in my construction.

A is the hull of the ship, the outer skin of.

upon which the ribs B are strung and byv means of which they are connected and supported on the upper deck of the ship, as indicated in Fig. l. D and D' indicate spac-v ing-pieces also strung upon the connections C and C and by means of which the arched ribs or braces are properly spaced. These spacingpieces are preferably of bead-like conformation, and, as shown, the pieces D' are given a somewhat pear-shaped conformation, their narrowed parts extending under the ribs B and abutting against the lugs B', dac.

E E are packing-pieces extending along the inner ends of the ribs in a position to intervene between them and the skin of the ship when the caisson is in place. These packingstrips must be elastic in order to enable them to conform to inequalities in the skin of the 'ship and make a tight joint therewith. Preferably I make them, as shown, of compressible tubes carried up above the waterlevel and kept full of fluid under pressure, preferably compressed air, by a connect-ion witha pump, as indicated at G, F indicating the delivery-pipe of the pump, connecting with the packing-tubes E. v

E' indicates a layer of llexible impervious material connecting with the packing-pieces E E on each side of the casing and extending over the ribs B, so as to cover the ribs,which in turn support the impervious material.

In use the flexible caisson is drawn under a ship by means of its rope connections and brought up into close contact with the outer skin of the ship. The water between the caisson and the ship is then pumped out of it, whereupon the pressure of the external water will act to hold the caisson closely against the skin and prevent the entry of water from outside. Operatives can then descend through the tunnel-like caisson and reach any part of the bottom of the ship which lies within it. When the repairs or cleaning of the ship are completed, water is again admitted to the caisson, which can then be readily drawn up and stored on shipboard.

It is important that the caisson should open above the water-level on both sides of the ships hull, as the pressure on the caisson is thus balanced and a free ventilation made easy.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A ships caisson adapted to extend beneath a ships bottom and to open above the surface of the water at both ends, made up of a series of transverse outwardly-arched ribs secured together by flexible connections and IOO zal

supported and covered by a layer of flexible impervious material having its lateral edges merging into lines of compressible packing situated under the end of the arched ribs in 5 position to intervene between them and the skin of a ships bottom.

2. A sliips caisson having in combination a series of outwardly-arched ribs, a number of flexible rope-like connections upon which Io said ribs are secured, spacing-blocks strung on said connections between adjacent ribs, compressible packin g-stri ps secured along the inner ends of the ribs, and a layer of flexible impervious material connecting said packingstrips and extending over the arched ribs. I5

F. C. BROOKSBANK.

lVitn csses:

CHAS. F. MYERS, D. STEWART. 

